Macon Magazine

2 6 MACONMAGAZINE.COM | D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 0 LOCAL BUZZ ARTIST HOPE HAYES REMEMBERED THROUGH ART EXHIBITION AT MERCER HOPE GARDNER HAYES was a woman who met the challenges of her life with courage and verve. Because of her husband's continuing illness, she found it necessary to provide support for her extended family. Fortunately, she was a talented artist, and at a time when women traditionally did not work outside the home, she made art her career. Long after her death, hundreds of her paintings continue to bring people pleasure and inspiration. In fact, Mercer University's art department is sponsoring a retrospective of her work from Jan. 16 through mid-February. It will be displayed at Hardeman Hall. Hope was born shortly after the turn of the 20th century in Louisville, Kentucky. From an early age, she showed an aptitude for art. In her teens, she met a young man from Macon named Richard Burton Hayes. After an abbreviated courtship, they were married and moved to Macon. WRIGHT HOUSE 100 YEAR CELEBRATION THE BOTTOM PHOTOS depict our third year of having a cocktail party. But this year turned out to be a little bit different. We started this annual party three years ago to celebrate completing the final – or what we thought was the final – project in the house. This gave us something to look forward to because we had gotten pretty worn out with our renovations. Our love-hate relationship was tipping toward the hate side, and we needed some love to balance it out. Also, I must add this house loves people and parties, and though we have no ghosts, it definitely desires people and celebrations. The photo from this year was taken 100 years from when the original photo, at top, was taken in 1919. We were first tagged a couple years ago on Facebook when this photo was posted and someone realized that this was in our house. We think because the party was in December 1919 and there were a lot of jailbird costumes that this represented a party for the last month before Prohibition went into effect. Prohibition was actually legislated in January 1919 but had a year before it went into effect. So, this party was actually a celebration of them saying, "We're all going to be a bunch of jailbirds come Prohibition time." Interestingly, alcohol consumption went up significantly during Prohibition. In celebration of this 1919 party many of our guests dressed as flappers – and there also were some jailbirds – but others just did other wacky and crazy things. – BRIDGET WRIGHT

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